Celebrating the Feast of Saint Nicholas

I once knew an Episcopal priest who was also a dad of young children. One of his daughters disliked their diocesan bishop greatly, and the priest/dad was trying to bring her around to liking him. “You know,” he told her. “Santa Claus is really a bishop.”

“Daddy!” she said. “Don’t say such a mean thing.”

That dad is now a bishop himself, and his daughter is all grown up. I haven’t asked them lately if she’s made her peace with Saint Nick, but I can’t blame her dad for trying to tie the always-popular Santa with the bishop in the early Church. As it turns out, Saint Nicholas might have been a bit of a reluctant bishop himself. Unlike the slates and walkabouts of today’s elections, legend has it that Nicholas became bishop because he was the first person to enter the church one morning. Other legends say it was because he was the first person named “Nicholas” to enter the church that morning, but either way, it’s a far cry from the background checks and multiple ballots of today’s church. I have to wonder if Saint Nicholas knew what he was getting into when he rose for prayer that morning.

Christians all over the world celebrate Saint Nicholas in different ways, and there are seemingly as many legends about the man as there are ways to celebrate him. Most of us think of him as a kindly bishop dressed in red robes giving gifts to small children. If we didn’t grow up receiving gifts of candy left in empty shoes on his feast day of December 6, we’ve probably at least heard of that tradition in many Catholic communities. My husband and I once struggled with managing our conflicting ideas of how to celebrate Christmas with Santa in a grace-oriented Christian family. We toyed with the idea of bridging the gap with Saint Nicholas, but his feast day is wedged awkwardly in the first week of December, when we’re just getting into the groove of Advent. Sorry, Nick. My complicated feelings about the saint’s day celebration have been compounded by a few disappointing (ahem, hungover) Saint Nicholas impersonators at churches we’ve attended.

It turns out that there’s more to Saint Nicholas than early December candy in shoes. Saint Nicholas may or may not have been one of the original signers of the Nicene Creed, and he may or may not have struck Arius in the face for being a heretic. And more than being known for giving gifts to children, he was known for being a rescuer. Legends say that he rescued children from being sold into prostitution, and even raised children from the dead after they were killed for food during a famine.

These accounts are more dangerous and more serious than a bowl full of jelly and some sweets tucked inside footwear. It’s understandable why these stories didn’t make it into the cheery family lexicon of family Christmas preparations. But these rescue stories may be just what we need in Advent. They remind us of a Jesus who was sent to rescue us from our sin (“He to rescue me from danger, interposed His precious blood”). These have echoes of Sally Lloyd-Jones’ Jesus Storybook Bible, when she describes Jesus as a great rescuer, and the unfolding of His birth story as God’s great rescue story. She even describes God’s revelations to Isaiah as “God’s Great Rescue Plan.”

God willing, our family Advent preparations won’t include saving children from prostitution and certain death, as Saint Nicholas did. But there is still plenty of rescuing that needs to be done in this broken world. As parents, we might need rescuing from the heavy weight of expectations of a perfect Christmas. As Christians, we might need rescuing from the tyranny of the expectation of a peaceful, calm, not-too-joyful-yet Advent. Holidays are heavy as we grieve for those who have died, and for those who might just be absent for other reasons. We grieve for the Norman Rockwell Christmases that never were. We still need a Rescuer. If you’re not sure we need a Rescuer, you might want to check out the headlines.

Saint Nicholas Day traditions can be a sweet, joyful reminder that we have a Rescuer who comes to us at Christmas. Jesus rescues us from our sins, and we celebrate His birth even if we haven’t gotten the Advent wreath just right, or have the right spreadsheet-balanced number of gifts for each child under the tree. Jesus is born for us whether we couldn’t scrape up enough to provide what we wanted to give to our loved ones, or if we overspent to fill in some need we don’t know how to fill.

We can celebrate Saint Nicholas by volunteering at a children’s charity, or donating toys to children who might not otherwise have something to open on Christmas morning. These are all worthy ways to celebrate the man who reminded us of the breathtakingly generous gift of Christmas, and a great way to teach our children about the example of Saint Nicholas.

My family does these things in gratitude for the gifts we’ve been given, but I’m careful when I talk with my children about these acts of generosity on our part: that we are not doing them to gain favor in heaven, or to earn God’s goodwill. When we follow in the footsteps of Saint Nicholas, we help others in the name of the Rescuer, knowing that we still need to be rescued ourselves. These acts are small tokens of our gratitude for the generosity that has already been shown to us.

Dear God, we pray that we can follow in the footsteps of St. Nicholas, being mindful of the needs of children, the powerless, and all those who need to be rescued. We live in gratitude that you sent your son Jesus to rescue us and love us. Amen.

[Image Credit: Detail from painting by Alexander Boguslawski; St. Nicholas Center, used by permission]

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Our solution was to pick out certain Advent observances in which our chi,den could take part at home. We hoped in this way to offsetting commercialism of the ore-Christmas seaskn. We also prohibited Christmas carols until Christmas Eve, with the one exception of those kids who had to practice for school programs. Instead, we taught the kids as soon as they could talk, some traditional Advent hymns and carols.

We instituted very early in our first chikd’s life the Advent wreath after supper (with Advent songs) and the creche. The first week of Advent we set up the stable with cattle and a donkey, and an empty manger. At supper, the kids who could say they were good that day got to put a straw into the manger, with the goal of making a soft bed for the Baby when He got here. On December 6, my husband, whose grandparents migrated to the US from the Netherlands, told the story of St. Nicholas, pointing out that he was a Bishop,like we sometimes see at Church. A cardboard bushop’s mitre served as a centerpiece, an there was a small shoe filled with candy beside it, which also served as dessert.

Week Two of Advent usually has St. Lucia’s day. For breakfast, we had “Lucia buns” (cinnamon rolls) . When daughter Joan was old enough, she woke everyone on Lucia day with a candle in her hand and a cinnamon bun on a plate in the other. Supper time found three small people listening to the Lucia story. Softening the manger continued, and Joseph and Mary, with donkey, started their journey from bedrooms to the living room, a few steps each day, winding up outside the stable,unable to find a place, until Saturday night when the innkeeper brought them into the stable

The Third Sunday of Adent we begin singing the Grat O antiphons. two nights for each, talking about what they mean. December 18 is our daughter’s birthday, and after supper that night we set up our Christmas tree,put candles (electric) in the front windows, and a wreath on the door. We continued with straws for the manger and the Great O’s.

The fourth week, we sang O come,O come,Emmanuel, and explained what Emmanuel means. On Christmas Eve after coming home from Midnight Mass, we put the Baby in the manger, lit the Christ candle on the Advent wreath, curled up in robes and slippers while Dad read “The Night Before Chrustmas”, and hung stickings..,then off to bed. The younger ones usually had to be carried,half, or wholly,asleep, to beds. Dad and Mom “played Santa” and went to bed,too.

On Christmas mirning, we read about the shepherds in the fields, and added shepherds, sheep and a sheep dog to the creche. Later that day, in the evening, the magi started their journey to the manger, about the time the first stars apoeared, with the accompanying story…and so to bed. The magi continued their journey until Epiphany, and the weekend after Epiphany, we “de-decorated ” the house ,putting things away carefully till next Advent.